12dz Chapter 723 Thank you for your trouble, Fellow Daoist Chen!
Chapter 723 Thank you for your trouble, Fellow Daoist Chen!
"This is it." Daoist Huoyuan stopped, his gaze falling on the spatial turbulence barrier. His tone became more solemn. "This barrier is the outermost defensive line of the entire forbidden zone, and also the only way to the depths. I have explored this place several times over the past three thousand years, and each time I have been blocked by this barrier. Those spatial fragments are extremely strange. Once touched, they will trigger a chain reaction, alarming all the half-step Void Refinement old monsters deep in the forbidden zone. And if one forcibly forces open the turbulence, the backlash from the barrier itself is enough to tear a Nascent Soul Great Perfection cultivator to pieces."
He turned to look at Chen Fan, his eyes filled with anticipation: "Fellow Daoist Guimu, I can see that your perception of spatial rules far surpasses that of others at the same level. When you traversed the spatial rift on the outer edge, you precisely placed each step in the safest position within the rift; that composure is something no ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator could possess. In my opinion, among the realms of understanding you've comprehended, there must be one related to space, right?"
Chen Fan neither denied nor admitted it, but silently walked to the barrier and used the Fixed Word Technique to probe his divine sense into it.
The spatial laws within the barrier were extremely chaotic. The fine spatial turbulence was like countless invisible blades cutting wildly, and the trajectory of each blade was completely unpredictable.
The spatial fragments embedded in the barrier's surface are even more troublesome, as they are interconnected in an extremely subtle way.
Like an invisible spider web, it connects the entire barrier into one.
If even a single fragment is touched, the entire spiderweb will vibrate simultaneously, transmitting a signal to every corner deep within the restricted area.
The existence of the Fixed Word Technique allowed Chen Fan to find a trace of order amidst this chaos. He could sense the trajectory of every spatial turbulence, discern the location and connection of every spatial fragment, and find an extremely narrow gap in this dense spatial spiderweb.
The gap was extremely narrow, allowing only one person to pass sideways.
Moreover, the position of the gap is constantly changing, slowly moving with the turbulence of space, and one must seize the opportunity precisely to pass through.
Chen Fan withdrew his divine sense and turned to look at Huoyuan Daoist: "There is indeed a path within this barrier. But you can only pass through one by one, and you must strictly follow my instructions. Any deviation will trigger those spatial fragments."
Huoyuan Daoist's eyes lit up, and he cupped his hands and said, "Then I'll have to trouble Fellow Daoist Guimu."
"Stay close." Chen Fan said calmly, then stepped to the side and entered the extremely narrow gap first.
The turbulent currents within the barrier hissed and cut around him, the closest one coming within three inches of his face.
His expression remained unchanged, his steps unhurried, each step precisely landing on a safe node between the spatial fragments. Those nodes were constantly shifting and changing, yet he always managed to step onto them the instant they moved away, as if he had anticipated everything.
Huoyuan Daoist followed half a step behind him, his eyes fixed on Chen Fan's every step, not daring to deviate even slightly. Although he had been in this underground space for three thousand years and had seen countless capable people, this was the first time he had seen someone walk so calmly in such spatial turbulence.
It didn't feel like traversing a perilous place; it felt more like taking a walk in your own backyard.
Aoki and Ishiyama followed closely behind, both with fine beads of sweat on their foreheads. Xue Tu walked in fourth place, his burly figure struggling in the narrow gap. Several times, spatial turbulence grazed his animal hide armor, making a hissing sound.
Bingpo walked at the back, her icy aura freezing all the nearby spatial fragments for a moment. Though it was only for a moment, it was enough for her to pass safely.
After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Chen Fan was the first to step out from the other side of the barrier.
Suddenly, everything became clear.
The scene behind the barrier is completely different from the outside world.
The eerie green demonic energy here has faded considerably, replaced by an extremely ancient, seemingly primordial chaotic spiritual energy that has existed since the beginning of time.
The spiritual energy was so dense it was almost tangible; each breath felt like swallowing a whole spirit stone, making one's meridians feel refreshed.
But what truly made Chen Fan's pupils shrink was the ruins before him.
It was an architectural complex of unimaginable scale. The remaining stone pillars were thousands of feet tall, many times taller than the surrounding pillars, and their surfaces were densely covered with slowly flowing star chart patterns. These patterns were not static, but rather moved slowly across the pillars like living things, each movement emitting a pale blue halo that made the entire ruins resemble an underwater dragon palace.
Several relatively well-preserved stone temples stand in the center of the ruins. The temples are built of an unknown dark gold stone, and the circular patterns on the temple doors emit a soft blue light.
The pattern was almost identical to the water ripples on the gold bowl, only on a scale tens of thousands of times larger. Within the deep blue gemstone set in the center of the pattern, something seemed to be flowing, as if sealing away an entire starry sky.
Further away, the dark blue crystal pyramid, suspended in mid-air, still hung there silently, a faint light flickering slowly from the holes in its body. Behind the pyramid, a massive crack could be vaguely seen running across the entire dome, and what shone through the crack was not darkness, but a colorful light, like the aurora borealis flowing in the night sky.
What truly took everyone's breath away was the shimmering light that emanated from all around these ruins.
In the southeast corner of the ruins, a crimson beam of light shot into the sky, and within the beam, a long, crimson spear could be faintly seen slowly rotating.
The flame patterns on the gun still burned brightly even after countless millennia, and the spiritual pressure it emitted was at least at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage.
In the northwest corner of the ruins, a broken bronze mirror is stuck diagonally among a pile of rubble, its surface covered with cracks.
The star map pattern on the back of the mirror was still glowing faintly, and the aura it emitted was also at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage.
At the entrance of the stone hall in the center of the ruins, a half-person-high alchemy furnace lay on the ground, its lid nowhere to be found, yet a faint blue flame still flickered inside.
The fire had been burning unattended for countless millennia, yet the spiritual energy within it remained so intense it was chilling.
There were also scattered fragments of magical artifacts, jade slips, spirit stones, and elixir bottles, each radiating a spiritual light of considerable quality, like a sky full of stars in the dark underground space.
Blood Butcher was the first to react.
He threw his head back and laughed loudly, then charged towards the crimson spear in a blur, leaving only a bloody afterimage in his wake: "This spear is mine! Nobody can take it from me!"